“They have no idea who it’s going to be,” Representative Filemon Vela, Democrat of Texas, said of the campaign staff members who are readying a rollout. “But they are making all the preparations necessary so that when the announcement is made, they can do what they are supposed to do in terms of rolling it all out.”
There is great uncertainty around Mr. Biden’s ultimate decision, even among prominent party leaders and those who have known him for years.
“This is like the best-kept secret in the universe,” said former Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, who served with Mr. Biden in the Senate. “We’re all anxious so we can get this behind us and get on that trail.”
As closely held as Mr. Biden’s potential decision has been, he has been exceptionally open about his search criteria, signaling that he intends to put particular emphasis on personal rapport and confidence in the candidates’ governing capabilities.
“He’s looking at everything,” Representative Cedric Richmond, Democrat of Louisiana and a co-chair of Mr. Biden’s campaign, said in an interview last week. “Who he’s most comfortable with, who helps him win. There’s a lot that goes into it. He’s going through his thought process.”
One central question for many Democrats is whether Mr. Biden will choose a woman of color as his running mate. He has considered Black, Latina and Asian-American contenders, as well as white candidates.
While Ms. Whitmer is white, some of her enthusiasts have noted that if Michigan’s lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist II, were to replace her, he would become the only Black governor in America — and in a pivotal battleground state where Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 in part because of mediocre African-American turnout.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/us/politics/biden-vp-pick.html
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